Josepe
Trovador medieval

Biographical Note:

Troubadour of jewish origin, whose single composition, the replies he gives to Estêvão da Guarda in the poetical exchange they had, seems to place him in the reign of King Denis or of his son, Afonso IV, probably at the start of the 14th century. Being professedly a tax officer, it has not yet been possible, however, to locate this Dom Josepe, also because we don’t know his surname, Several jews bearing this name appear in documents from King Denis’s chancellery and, according to Resende de Oliveira1, another Dom Josepe had lands in Torres Vedras (just as Estêvão da Guarda). We do not know, however, if he is any of them. Another possibility (that, furthermore, doesn’t void the previous ones) is that he could be José ibn Jachia, son of the builder of the synagogue of Lisbon, Salomão ibn Jachia, and who was a reputed hebrew poet, having written an eulogy on the occasion of the death of his mentor, the barcelonese Salomão ben Aderet, in 13002.

References

1 Oliveira, António Resende de (1994), Depois do espectáculo trovadoresco. A estrutura dos cancioneiros peninsulares e as recolhas dos séculos XIII e XIV, Lisboa, Edições Colibri.

2 Kayserling, Meyer (1971), História dos judeus em Portugal, S. Paulo, Livraria Pioneira Editora, pp. 20 e 24.